Rita's Ramblings: a basically house-bound woman in Fargo, North Dakota blogging for friends, family, and anybody who finds it interesting. I talk about art or craft projects, my grandson (Ian), the weather, movies, books, health, and whatever happens to be going on in my life. Welcome!

Friday, November 30, 2007

Back to my own schedule without alarms and just sleeping whenever I am tired and am able to sleep. :) Yesterday slept 14 hours, but was up all night last night. Had the feeling, since I was still awake about 10am, that I should try to stay awake for the mail. She usually comes before noon. Sure enough! The mail lady called me about a package I had to sign for and it was Haiying's package from China!! Already! Haiying just mailed it on the 18th. I was so surprised! I will post pictures of all the goodies later. Too tired right now. Just wanted to pop in and spread the good news--hehe! Heading for bed pretty soon here I would imagine. :)

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Wednesday they had the framing up for pouring the walls for the foundation/basement. Said they were pouring the concrete at 3pm. TaDa! Don't they look cold! The wind chill was below zero!

Leah came over about noon.

She sets up by the table with her laptop and cell phone so she can easily answer emails and calls from work.

We started to try out the new caulks and discovered that three out of five of the new tubes did not clean up with water. So Leah made a trip over to the home store and got mineral spirits. That worked--as suggested. We settled on the whites that are water soluable for our cards. When we don't have so many to make, then we can use the others. (Takes longer to clean the brass stencil after each use with the mineral spirits.)

Dagan came over after work. I made spaghetti for dinner. Was a nice day!

I slept in late today--and very well, thank goodness. I'll be puttering off and on with the stencils and caulk every day until I am finished. I can only do so many a day since I have to hold the stencil some with my bad hand. Leah will be back next Wednesday--if I am not finished, she will help me get enough of them done. I am making 50. Leah is making 15. Hehe! I am hoping I can get done or nearly done by next Wednesday--so--I am off to play with caulk some more.... :)

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

These are the goodies Leah came over with yesterday. Brilliant white, gloss white, black, clear, and bronze caulk! Exciting to us...hehe!

Leah was in and out of here pretty fast yesterday afternoon. No time to start on cards, but we have lots of supplies--for Christmas cards and others. We are thinking we could add any color acrylic paint to the clear caulk--should work? I was too tired to think straight, anyways, yesterday.

Leah did try to see why my laptop wouldn't connect to the Internet--and she couldn't figure it out either. Dagan stopped by after work--turned it on and it worked for him! We do not understand why this happens! Dagan just has the magic touch. He said he didn't do anything, like he always says?? I had been trying for three days and Leah tried--nothing. Dagan comes and turns it on and it works for him. No clue why, but it happens like that often. ??? Just glad it does! :)

We had a little bit of snow last night. Looked dreadful for a while, but not much of anything on the ground today--just a smattering. I finally slept after two nights of a couple hours each if I was lucky. Crashed for 14 hours last night--and slept during the night--good! Caroline came to clean this afternoon. Tomorrow Leah will come for cards and Dagan will be over after work, too. I am going to make spaghetti for dinner. :)

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Got my little tabletop tree up. Can't actually put it on the table because of Karma and crafts--hehe!

Looks pretty up there in the dark!I hang a santa by the coat closet door. Would hang him outside my door if I wasn't afraid of him being stolen. Yes--him I am afraid of being stolen--hehe!

And this year I set the trio of angels on the floor by the closet door, too. I haven't had them out for a couple of years due to cat curiosity, but we'll see how it goes this year. :)

This trying to switch to days all weekend has not been going that well. Still up almost all night and have a dreadful time getting up to an alarm when I am so tired. Last night I laid down at 4:45am. Last time I looked at the clock it was 6:30am, but I was determined to try to catch a little sleep. I finally drifted off--when the alarm went off at 10:30am I hit the snooze for over an hour and a half--so tired. Hopefully I will finally collapse and sleep early and long tonight--hehe!

Karma is so funny. Lately she uses the headboard as a pillow--looks so uncomfortable to me, but she has been doing this for weeks. Restless night last night and I was up and down. Grabbed the camera and snapped her snoozing in the dark waiting for me to come back to bed--hehe!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

I have a couple of fake plants in the garage and I was just going to donate them for pick-up when I got the garage cleaned out. Since we have had a bit of a problem with stolen items and destruction of property around the building lately, I decided to see if I could change the energy a little bit. When I went out yesterday to bring in my Christmas things, I brought in the largest arrangement that I used to have on top of my desk hutch in Moorhead and put it on the barren table that is across from the elevator. So now this is what you see when the door opens.

In Moorhead I faced North and got very little light for real plants, so I bought up some fake ones. I miss greenery around my home. :)I won't feel badly if it does disappear--like the huge gold framed mirror that used to hang above this table. I donated it--come what may. I am just hoping to send out some different energy. It is now officially the Christmas season, after all--at least to me once Thanksgiving is over--hehe!

Also, believe it or not, I have one handmade paper bookcard left. So, I decided to try something else, now that the handmade paper is used up. I took white cardstock and glued fancy paper over the top of it and used that as a cover. :)

Can't tell I love making and using bookcards, eh? Chuckle!

And I have a card ready to send off a check to Haiying when my order arrives with a total or she emails me with a total. (The order was mailed out from China, so it might take a while to get here.)

I thought I'd show you what a difference having the seals makes. Somehow it looks more like a finished product--complete. :)

The square one is my "Rita" seal/chop and the round one is the "Soul Comfort" one.

I have been in the process of switching back to days. Have to be ready to make Christmas cards on Monday! :)

I hope everybody had a nice holiday with safe travel--and now have good memories to carry with you.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Leah took pictures before they left for Thanksgiving with Dagan's dad and family. They had put in the concrete footings! Told them that the foundation/basement should be done by Monday or Tuesday!

Here's the left side of the house...

The middle...And the right side where the garage goes. I think???I think I got the pictures labeled correctly, but don't bet on it--chuckle!

There should be more pictures soon. Maybe something recognizable as a basement--hehe! And if any of you are interested in checking out Dagan and Leah's new photo website--this is where they will appear first now if you want to bookmark it or save it to your favorites. :)http://picasaweb.google.com/leahmcgregor/McGregorManorBut I will post most of the pictures, too. Never fear!

With the split levels they only dig down about four feet. It is kind of half of a basement or what we used to call "garden level".

The only other house I remember being actually built was our house in Fridley back in around 1956. Our family used to drive out to visit the site of our future home. Didn't look like a place I'd want to live--all cement blocks and boards and sand and mud and wind. Bare suburb. But I was only five. Ended up loving it there! Especially because we had vacant fields to play in for several years--and a man-made lake nearby! They were good years for killdeer, ground squirrels, skinks, wildflowers, dragonflies, stickers, mice, garter snakes, mallards, tall Minnesota grassland, salamanders, toads, crows, sand dunes, rabbits, bats, frogs, tumbleweeds, flickers, butterflies....

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Turned out that Leah didn't come over today after all. She is busy doing laundry, packing, and baking for the Thanksgiving trip to Dagan's dad's. So, she said she'd come over Monday and Wednesday next week to work on the Christmas cards. Work has slowed down for her some, so we should be able to get something done both days, hopefully.I can't really do a lot in the meantime because we need more caulking paste. Leah asked for a picture of the tube and I mailed it to her. She will check at a home store on Sunday or Monday before she comes over. Might be able to get a larger tube than at Target over at Home Depot or Lowes or Menards.

So, I am baking chocolate chip cookies and watching the faint snowflakes float past the window. Barely enough to show on the ground but it is cold enough that the tiny flakes drift into thin patches against the curbs and the grass alongside the sidewalks. Safe travel for everyone on this holiday weekend. :) For those of us at home--stay warm and count your blessings!

Monday, November 19, 2007

It has been really nice being able to sleep well the past five days. Ahhh! Now I have to switch over to sleeping at night so that I can have Leah over during the day on Wednesday. :)I was cooking this weekend. Made up a couple of hotdishes, so I am good for days. Probably the whole week! Just wanted to be free to get some other things done. Been just reading and writing letters. Seems like it took me a while to feel rested and less sore this time. I get thrown off my game when I am up all night till dawn, too.Anyways--less pain, feeling better, and even more or less rested--guess I should get moving here, eh? :)

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Slept well for the last three days and finally feel more human! Been going to bed at dawn and sleeping till late afternoon, tho. Oh well--it always flips back to days after a while. I am just so grateful to be able to sleep. Actually didn't hurt and hobble as badly when I woke up today. :) I started to feel a little better last night and made some chick pea soup again. Didn't have the fresh spinach, but it was really good regardless. :) Just feels nice to have the pain level drop down--ahhh! Happy me!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

They have begun and Leah takes pictures. Then she gets them to me so I can post them for you all. The process has finally begun!! :)

These are the samples I got finished--(threw together--didn't have to look good). Took me all day. You have to mix up each one and then immediately clean everything off so the caulk doesn't dry on anything. We aren't using any of these stencils. Well, unless we can't get the larger one we chose to work well--then we might have to use that smaller Christmas stencil--hehe!

Turned out that Leah was so swamped with work and calls yesterday that she didn't make it over all day. Dagan arrived first, actually, after work. Leah stopped and picked up a pizza that you can bake at home (Papa Murphy's)--was very good. We ate pizza while we watched Without A Trace and saw the second half of the story that started on CSI last week.

After that we did a Sacred Circle! Been many, many months--was nice! We did the burning bowl and some angel cards. Got in touch--spiritually--and with where each of us is at right now. I was pleased that Dagan and Leah's dream of flipping houses some day includes eventually providing cheap student housing for college kids and housing for the homeless. Having a spiritually based dream--awesome! Seems a good fit for them both. Every dream starts with that first step, right?

Myself, I have finally been feeling the bubbling of wanting a change--an expansion. To"write-write" again--needing Sacred Circles and to get out my spiritual books again. I haven't been writing-writing since I had to leave college in 2004. We haven't had Sacred Circle since March or April--and there's no reason why I can't do that by myself as I have done most of my life. I have had a very one-sided life most of this past year, I guess. Have basically been immersed in the arts and crafts part of my being. But to be balanced I need three aspects: the arts/crafts/creating with my hands part, the reading/writing/creating with my mind part, and the spiritual/meditation/connecting part. When I get off to one side or another for too long--it begins to bother me. I get restless and feel that bubbling away inside of me that needs other outlets. I think I needed a good long time of rest. Rest time over? Probably? I just feel things will be shifting by 2008--in a good way. :)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Well, now yesterday my cord isn't working for the camera to put the pictures onto the computer? I'll have Dagan look at it when he comes later tonight.Leah is so swamped with work and calls this morning that she is going to come over later this afternoon. I might try to close my eyes for a while in my chair, actually. First I have little or no sleep and then finally collapse and sleep one night--and then I'm back to little sleep again. ?? It will pass. It always does. :) Anyways--the big news! Leah drove by the lot yesterday and there were men out there taping off and measuring!! So, they are finally going to get the foundation started--tada!! Not a moment too soon, in my opinion--been down in the 20's at night several nights. Just so glad that it has finally begun!! :):):)

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

This is the first I have been able to get on the computer. Dagan came over during his lunch break and started the process of coying the brians from the desk computer to the laptop. It quit a couple of hours later and said there wasn't enough room and did I want to try again? I can't get Dagan on the phone until after he gets off work to ask him what to do. So, have to deal with it tomorrow, he said. I am back online.Caroline came to clean this afternoon, too. Tomorrow Leah comes over for the day and Dagan will be over after work. We are going to eat and watch "Without A Trace" (second half of a story that started on "CSI"--Dagan and Leah didn't record "Without A Trace" and I did). Then we're going to have Sacred Circle!! Been a long, long time. :)

Today I am busy making the samples for our Christmas card technique--so am busy puttering about. Not a lot of time to chat today. Hopefully more next time. :)

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Saturday, November 10, 2007

I am not the only one who is yawning. When I have very short, restless nights--like I have had the past two nights--Karma won't sleep with me in my little single bed. She sleeps in the hallway where she can watch me wiggle and knows if I get up to go to the bathroom--but doesn't have to put up with the constant shifting in my endless search to find a comfortable postion. She has been accidentally pushed off the bed in the past--which was an unforgivable affront to a sprawly cat who is used to being watched out for and stepped around 90% of the time--hehe! Well, Dagan came over and got the desktop back online in a matter of minutes! Am I not blessed!? He was going to copy the brains from the two computers into each other--and he started copying the desktop onto the laptop (takes hours and hours)--but the online signal gets weak every so often and would abort the program. So, he said he has to bring a cord with next time and then he can do it directly.

I won't post the two stencils we are using for the Christmas cards, but this is the rest of the small order I got from Stencils With Style. Some silver stencil paste--the real stuff they sell to go with stencils so we can try it and see what the difference is between that and the caulking paste Leah got from Target. A spatula and Scotch removeable tape.

We want to experiement and see what it would look like if we mix in glitter, microglitter, microbeads, Pearl Ex powder, and anything else we can think of--hehe! That is what I think I will be doing this weekend. I emailed Leah to ask her if she wanted me to wait until Wednesday when she comes over--just to be sure--but I don't think she will care if I start earlier.

Here's what I will be looking at--a lot--the next few weeks. Going to be interesting!

Friday, November 09, 2007

Didn't sleep well or long. I twisted my right knee somehow a couple days ago and it has swollen up and hurts like the dickens (to keep it clean). Could have been twisting when I am up and about, but also has done this just from sitting at the computer or in a chair and not keeping my knees straight. You know how you can let a knee fall to the side if the chair is low? I cannot do that anymore or I put my knees out. And I forget that every once in a while. Or I twist the wrong way moving something--or even in my sleep sometimes. Such is life, eh? Hobble! Hobble! Hobble! hehe!Dagan is coming this afternoon to work on the computer--hurray! So, hopefully, he will figure out the problem and I will have my main computer back later today. I just don't keep much stuff on the laptop. We didn't want them to be able to network and talk to each other--because then if I lose one I would probably lose them both. I didn't want that. Like right now--I am glad they don't have their brains connected--hehe!

I mostly use the laptop for writing my "morning pages" (from The Artist's Way) and for back-up. If I knew how to transfer information over to this laptop by hand--then I'd use it more than I do, I suppose. But, then again--I have less problems with the laptop because I use it less time per day than the desktop and there is less information packed into it--hehe! Hopefully things will get back to normal soon. :)

Thursday, November 08, 2007

This is a late in the day post. My desk computer won't let me get online. I am using the laptop. I have a difficult time typing on the laptop for some reason. My sentences can leap backwards into the middle of another sentence or up to a paragraph can disappear entirely. I have never yet figured out what keys I am accidentally hitting. Anyways....Tuesday my friend, Duane, was here. We gave each other's books back that we borrowed--must be six months ago? I still have two of his left to read. Obviously I have not been reading as much lately. We had a nice visit, as usual. :) Leah suggested that, since she was just running over to pick up the pottery, I stay here and she'd bring it over. Turned out that was a good idea. Nothing had been fired yet. So she is going back this coming Tuesday. And she might as well bring them over on Wednesday when she usually comes over.Yesterday Leah was over all day (as she has started to do now, Karma hid under the bed??). The stencil order came, too--tada! I took a picture of the supplies that came--minus the stencils themselves (so people who will be getting our cards can't know ahead of time--hehe!), but I can't do the pictures with the laptop. Don't even know how and I store all my pictures on the desktop computer. So--later--when the desktop gets fixed. I made us dinner--kind of a late dinner for my boy's birthday, I guess--hehe! He was 33 on the 2nd!! Dagan came over after he got off work. Made a pot roast, potatoes, carrots, and gravy. Leah surprised me and brought along buttermilk and made buscuits from scratch!! Yummy! Dagan was tortured by the smells until we ate--hehe!Dagan was going to connect remotely to my computer so they can just go in and fix troubles themselves and not have to talk me thru it on the phone. But when he left--I couldn't get online at all. He isn't sure what he did. So, he's stopping by after work tomorrow at noon and will look at it. If he comes over and it mysteriously, miraculously works....we don't know why, but that happens a lot with him. Dagan has the magic touch with computers. Leah or I can have problems and he will sit down and poof! The computer works for him?? Magic touch, I tell you. But I have tried three times yesterday and twice today--nothing.So, that is what I have been up to. And I hope I have my desk computer and the regular keyboard back tomorrow afternoon. :)

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

She watches it everywhere it goes.If I put it below eyesight under the toolbar, she thinks it has gone underneath the screen and searches for it. Cracks me up! I love it when she tries to get a paw on either side on the bottom of the flat screen to trap it, but I couldn't catch a shot of that. :)

Monday, November 05, 2007

Quiet weekend. Feeling better today. Getting caught up on some sleep--hurray! Am way behind on emails and such. Maybe can catch up some today.What little I was on the computer this weekend I mostly spent searching for brass stencils for Leah and I for our Christmas cards. I sent Leah the links and we decided. I just ordered this morning.Wasn't my weekend for technical stuff or computers. First I didn't think my new blue tooth earpiece was working. I called Leah and she told me to hold the button in on top of it until the blue light came on--duh! Somehow it got turned off and I had no clue how to turn it on again. Then, I went to order the brass stencils last night and forgot to fill in the number I wanted in the box and didn't think the site was working--duh! Do these things come in threes? Am I going to have something else dumb happen today? Hehehe! Fibro-fog--that's all I can say. :)

Saturday, November 03, 2007

I had two of those nights I couldn't sleep--finally fell asleep at around 6:30 in the morning and slept till 3:30pm yesterday. Had CashWise come in the evening. I am eating a fresh banana as I am writing this. :)Leah stopped by Thursday night for a couple of hours. She was going thru all the leaf and fern stamps and stencils that we have. Wanted to show her friend, Amber, what we have already. Amber wants Leah to jazz up her wedding invitations somehow--with stamps, stencils, whatever--she loves leaves and ferns. Wanted cottonwood leaves, but that is not an easy stamp to find. Anyways, Leah also wanted to show her what she can do with them--so she stamped, embossed, pasted, scraped, colored....hehe! This will give Amber an idea of what is available and, hopefully, Leah will have a better idea of what Amber wants. Dagan and Leah went to St. Cloud this weekend and Amber is supposed to be there, too. (Leah's sister and brother-in-law live in St. Cloud--so they stay there.) Karma and I--just lying low. I am hobbling less today than yesterday. :)

Thursday, November 01, 2007

We made it shopping yesterday!! Tada! First went over to Moorhead Center Mall to K&Krafts. They have the most brass stencils in town, but now basically only carry from one company--and that one is a little too cutsy for us. I have been searching online and sending Leah links. We will find something we like--either the same stencil or we'll each find something spearately that we like. Did buy some rubber stamps at K's and some bluish, shimmery snowflakes.

We headed back to Fargo and went to Hobby Lobby--where we picked up cheap flat brushes (to play with for bamboo stalks), adhesive, white Sculpy polymer clay, and I've always wanted to try a Uhu glue stick.Now, I have this happen on rare occasions with the camera--get pink pictures? I think I am trying to take another picture too soon? Not sure. This was Michael's--hehe! It was very, very windy--but that wouldn't make it pink. Just goes to show you that I sure can mess up photos sometimes.Anyways, we went to Michael's because they carry some of the papermaking supplies and we thought of something for next year, actually, and wanted to check and see if they had what we were thinking of over there--no. But Martha Stewart now has craft supplies and we did find a clear stamp alphabet!! Leah has been looking for one with tiny letters and a plain font for like two years!! What a find!! Leave it to Martha! I wanted to try Martha's new glue sticks, of course.

Leah surprised me and brought me over to Clay Your Way. Leah hasn't ever made anything there--just wandered thru the store. Not a lot to pick from. Looks like they cater to having a lot of kids paint their own plates and cups? Everything is bisqueware--already fired once--and it looks like they hand paint on the glaze. Then you come back later and pick it up after it is fired again. Nothing interested us, actually. But I am glad I finally got to go and check it out.

Then we came back to my place and Leah caught up on stuff for work.

Here's the booty from our day of shopping! Just lots of little things. Was a lot of fun!

Dagan came over after work and, when Leah was finally finished, we all went to check out a new Chinese restaurant. Used to be The Mandarin and now it is called The Palace. They still have the fish pond and tank--Koi in it now and it is clean. It isn't all dark and dingy in there like when it was The Mandarin (we didn't like it or the food then). They opened it up inside and serve buffet--Chinese, Korean, Japanese--and sushi when the sushi chef isn't on vacation as he was last night--hehe! I was just as glad! Dagan and Leah have been trying to convince me to try sushi and the very thought makes me feel like a Survivor contestant puking in the sand! I guess there is a really good sushi restaurant in town now that Dagan and Leah and their friends just love.

Anyways--much improved from the old place! Better food and now so clean and open in there! I really liked the tempura sauce and the sweet and sour--(never had tempura before--was good). Had scoop ice cream for dessert--not the soft serve--chocolate and strawberry. We'd go back--probably when the buffet is fresher--we were near the end of the evening--hehe! Still was good to me, tho. I hope people realize the restaurant is open and is a new place. I found a coupon and that is the only way we knew. (Then forgot the coupon at home--duh!! Dagan and Leah found that very amusing--my searching and searching my bag in the car all the way there.) It wasn't very busy when we were there--but it was a Wednesday night.

Well, was a long day for me, but so worth it. Then Caroline came this morning to clean. I am hobbling about today. Definitely a noodle day for me--hehe!! :) Was such a nice day to be out and about and in the craft stores--ahhh!!! Fun!! :)